


Intensely Sentimental

by slashmania



Series: life is stranger [2]
Category: Inception (2010), Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Genre: First Christmas, M/M, Merry Christmas, if dreamshare had children's stories it might look like this, or Happy Holidays, stories that rhyme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-09-26 23:13:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17150876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashmania/pseuds/slashmania
Summary: Eames reached for his mug of hot chocolate. "To be honest I used my imagination. I imagined what your wish list would be. Dangerous as it is, I stood in the store and asked myself what I would want if I were you. And then I imagined shopping as you. And then I just imagined you. It became a lot simpler after that!"





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to come up with an idea that would be fun to write for the holiday season- then this one hit me when I was in the middle of making oohs and ahhs for a Christmas party. So enjoy some "I Specialize in Happy Endings (Not Euphemistically)" holiday fanfiction!
> 
> This didn't come out how I originally thought it would, it really is intensely sentimental, but I wanted to have at least one holiday fic written because my semester ended a week ago.

The gift was wrapped perfectly.

Arthur eyed it. He was still speculating what Eames could have possibly gotten him. Eames cleared his throat and said, "Yes, I made sure that someone else did the wrapping."

Arthur gingerly picked it up to look at it more closely. He was seconds away from giving it an inquisitive shake but glanced at Eames, who was waiting patiently for the big reveal.

"And it's not explosive or dangerous or anything like that?"

Eames sighed and nodded. "You get your dangerous toys or gadgets for yourself, darling. I promise I looked at your wish list."

"I didn't write one," Arthur said, distracted as he carefully began to find the places the gift wrap had been taped up so he could peel it open without ripping anything. Even if the gift wrap wasn't pretty, he'd still save it to recycle or reuse it.

Eames reached for his mug of hot chocolate. "To be honest I used my imagination. I _imagined_ what your wish list would be. Dangerous as it is, I stood in the store and asked myself what I would want if I were you. And then I imagined shopping as you. And then I just imagined you. It became a lot simpler after that!"

Arthur had already gotten most of the paper off of the rectangular box.  "If this white rectangular box contains another smaller white rectangular box, I'm not sure if I'll be able to restrain myself..."

"From kissing me beneath the mistletoe?"

"No, I've hidden it. Imagine the furthest thing from kissing and that thing might happen if I find a box inside this box."

"Go ahead and finish opening yours so I can open mine next."

"Opening Christmas presents isn't a spectator sport," Arthur was saying to himself as he opened the white rectangular box. "Go ahead and open one of your gifts, Eames..." Then Arthur said, "Oh."

Arthur had found what was inside the box.

It was a book. _A children's book._

" _The Adventures of a Point Man and a Forger_ ," Arthur read the title aloud. He looked up at Eames before looking at where the author was listed on the cover. "You didn't get this in a store. You wrote this under a pseudonym!"

"And you didn't hear me narrate because the point man isn't you. Well, we both know who the point man and the forger are supposed to be, but nobody is named."

Arthur opened it up and began to skim the pages. Cute drawings accompanied the text, and Arthur smiled at the simplified drawings of the characters meant to represent himself and Eames. "Did you do the artwork?"

Eames nodded and gently took the book from Arthur. He turned back to the first pages and stopped at the dedication. "To my darling Arthur, who doesn't mind it when I'm intensely sentimental."

Eames closed the book and gestured to the remaining gifts under the tree. "But I wasn't lying about what I said before. I literally did go into a store and imagined the gifts you would like best. I got you perfectly good, sort of mundane gifts in addition to this really sappy one."

"How about," Arthur said, "we hold off on opening other gifts so you can read this to me? And when you're done, I'm going to take the mistletoe out of it's hiding place and then I'm going to prove that I'm just as sentimental as you are."

"You have a deal, darling."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The point man and forger were the best team. They searched for some secrets, they plundered some dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So I was in the middle of the long overdue Sleeping With Ghosts update when this sneaky little idea hit me. It really has been bothering me that this story was so short. I knew that I might post a second chapter, but I had to wait for the right idea to come. 
> 
> In truth I had to make up a story for "The Adventures of a Point Man and a Forger." So this is it. I apologize for the sometimes inconsistent imperfect rhyming but I really began to have fun with it once I worked out the first line. Also, I'll be rereading again for dumb errors, so bear with me (I already had a laugh over the number of times I accidentally typed Arthur or Eames's names!)
> 
> Please enjoy my nonsense!

The point man and forger were the best team. They searched for some secrets, they plundered some dreams.

And though their work was engaging and fun, the point man would shake his head and deny another adventure, saying, “I would prefer none.”

“But we aren’t so busy,” the forger would remind, “it’ll take next to nothing, we’ve planned extra time.”

“The schedule is big so we won’t make mistakes, and I’m not playing around just to lose pay.”

The point man was serious, and the forger had to agree. Not much could be risked when you robbed people’s dreams.

Yet one day while walking they spotted their mark, unexpected but lucky as they passed by the park.

“Let’s follow the mark into that museum!” the forger said as he tugged on the point man’s arm. The point man’s frown deepened. He shook his head. 

“You go alone and meet me at the nearby café. If he spots us both its likely he’ll get suspicious. If he remembers us later, his subconscious security will rip us to pieces.”

But the forger pressed, and begged, and pleaded, till finally the point man followed him, defeated.

“I don’t like this, at all,” the point man muttered. “Do you think he saw us?”

“Keep talking like that and he might see us soon,” the forger whispered back, watching and following as the mark moved from room to room.

"We need an adventure or two," the forger reminded him. "Tailing this mark can be fun. It won't take much time, I promise it's true. I bet you'll notice three of our mark's quirks for each one I spot, too."

The game was on, and the point man could admit that it was very fun. When it came time to count off their observations over dinner the forger swore that the point was the winner.

"Maybe more adventures could be fun, though I think you're joking when you say that I won."

And so they continued.

The point man and forger were still the best team. They searched for some secrets, they plundered some dreams.

And when they had time, they had adventures in between.


End file.
